Hull City Council frustrated by further delays to A63 upgrade

Work on the planned multimillion pound upgrade to Hull’s Castle Street is unlikely to be completed until at least 2022.

The scheme will look to ease traffic congestion along the A63 and in the wider area. However, it’s been delayed because the Government’s concerned about the impact it will have on air quality.

Councillor Martin Mancey believes that’s not a good enough reason to delay the work:

“It’s incredibly frustrating. I had hoped we would have this scheme completed by 2019, and by 2020 it would be up and running. That is now extremely unlikely to be achieved, in fact the new improvement will not be completed by 2020.”

He added that the economic benefits of improving the A63 through the city centre outweigh the potential increase in air pollution:

“We’ve already seen a lot of investment around Hedon Road. I won’t say that the current Castle Street situation is a block on that investment, but as soon as that road is improved, the more attractive those potential development sites will be.

“By about 2025 the air quality will have improved anyway. For the sake of maybe three or four more years of lower than desirable air quality standards, I think the economic benefits outweigh that risk.”